Model railroad track



Sept. 25, 1956 Filed May l5, 1952 E. KATRYNIAK MODEL RAILROAD TRACKFEImv e] v 2o /4 ZY /2/ 30] 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 t 34 30 /2 2a 2o' /4' sle'Jzr Inventor Edy-a er@ Knl'nvNnAK Attorney Sept. 25, 1956 E. KATRYNIAK2,764,357

MODEL RAILROAD TRACK Filed May l5. 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 '4 "HW i( IInventor E'awmw Kawa/wak 72 69 65 Altorney United States Patent MODELRAILROAD -TRCK Edward Katryniak, Richmond, England, assignor to RovexScale ModelsLimited, Richmond, England' Application `May15, 1952, SerialNo.287,964

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 9, 1952 s Claims.(Cl. 'ass-10) This invention relates to lsectional tracks for 'modelrailroads.

Recently model railroad tracks have been made of sections eachconsisting of rails carried by a plastic base and have been joinedtogether by end connections between the adjacent bases. The bases can bemoulded :from a plastic more satisfactorily than they can be made fromsheet metal, as has been the more common practice in the past. Thepresent invention is concerned with sections with plastic bases.

The principal object of this inventionis to improve the end connectionsof sections havin'gplastic bases so 'as to allow either end of anysection to be joined to either end of another section, that is to say,to "make the rails're- Versible, and to ensure that when joined thesections are firmly held together with the rails 'in exact alignment andwith'the ends of the rails in contact'with one another.

VAnother objectof the invention'is to provide-an improved doubleinterlock between the Vvends 'of track sections to enable them tobejoined together.

`Afurth'erV object'of the vinventionisto provide' a'track section v`basewhich can both easily be 'moulded from a plastic andberr'nly united toanadjacent base'by 'simple longitudinal engagement.

My vinvention' will :nowbe described in d'etaibwi'th reference to theannexed drawings, which show two examples of track sections :accordingtolthe invention. In these drawings:

Figure l isapla'n of the 'ends of vtwo track sections slightlyseparated;

'Figure Ziisf'a view-'ofthe underside fof/the trackisections assembled;

Figure 3f`is-a-side-elevationof ithel'enAd of one olf-"the tracksections lookin-g -inthe -directi'onfof the arro'w III in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an end elevation of one of the track sections looking inthel direction of' the arrow 51V" in Figure M1;

Figure 5 is a plan of the ends of two different sections slightlyseparated;

Figure 6 is an underneath view of the parts shown in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a section on the line XIX- XIX in Figure 5; and

Figure 8 is a View of the underside of the track sections of Figure 5assembled.

The ends of the two track sections shown in Figures 1 to 4 are identicaland accordingly the same reference numbers are applied to both sections,the right-hand section being distinguished by the addition of a primemark to each reference number. The sections shown are curved in plan,but of course the same form of end connection is equally applicable tostraight sections, points, crossings, and the like.

Each track section shown in Figures 1 -to 4 has a base 2 of mouldedplastic. This base has a flat top on which raised sleepers 4 with chairs6 are moulded, and at each side the base has a downwardly and outwardlyice extendingflange 8 forming an inverted shallow trough,-.as shown inFig. 4. Rails `10 Hare carried by and make va sliting lit inthe chairs6, being slid into posit-ion from one en `At 'each end 'the base 2 isformed with a tongue 12 whichsprings from a root 15 lying just beneaththe at top of the base. The tongue 12 is lsubstantially rectangular inplan, having 'an outer side lying in one ilange 8 and an inner side 16lying on the centre line of the track section, so that Vthe rootoccupies half the distance between the tlanges. The .space between theroot 15 and the second flange 8 constitutes a substantially rectangularsocket 14, the outer wall of which is constituted by the second flange 8and the inner wall by the side of the tongue root 15. This side is acontinuation of the side 16 of the tongue. The socket is bounded on theunderside by a flat bar 18 which runs from the second ilange 8 to theroot 15 ofthe tongue as shown in Figures 2 and 4. There is an opening 20in the top of the base above the bar 18 to enable the bar to bemouldedin the same operation as the rest of 'the ibase.

There is a small semi-circular projection 122 on the inner wall of thetongue root, i. e. the inner wall of the socket, and a correspondingsemi-circular recess 24 in the inner side of the tongue. The projection22 and recess 24 are complementary parts which engage resiliently whenthe sections are joined together as shown in Figure .2. The sections arejoined by Vforcing each tongue into the socket opposite it against theresilient yielding of one of the complementary parts, i. e. the recess24, until Vthese parts engage ro-resist separation .ofthe-'sections The`proportions 'of the'complementary'engaging parts must ofcourse bechosen in relationto 'theresilience of the particular moulded plasticused so that ithe sections can be put together. and taken' apart readilyby hand, but willnot`be come'acci'dentally separated. A

The'inner corner of the tongue is -bevelled at `2`6 so thatfduringthejoining it-will ride over the projection'22. To 'enable the tongue' to.yield laterally as 'this occurs it is vforked to present a'laterallyyieldable innerprong, the space 28between the twoprongsof the fork.being keyhole-shaped in plan. This shapeprevents concentrationof stressat the'bottom ofthe space.

Since each plastic base has a tongue and socket `arrangedside by sideatuone endandanidentical tongue and .socket vat :the other end, `eitherend `of anysection canbejoine'd to another-section'in the way described;in other words the track sections are reversible, and so .the assemblyof the sections into a `track is much"facilitated. Moreover, at eachend'there'isia double interlocking en- Owing to the rectangular shape ofthe tongues and sockets the movement of the two track sections as theyare brought together or taken apart is in the direction parallel to therails. This enables electrical connections between the rails to be madeby fish-plates 3), so that the track can be used with an electriclocomotive. Each fish-plate is xed to the rail end above the tongue 12and makes a sliding tit over the rail end above the slot 14. Thesh-plate is iiXed in place by punching its bottom at 32 and crimping itssides at 34. During `the moulding of the base 2, an opening 36 is formedin it to admit a punch to perform these operations. The chairs at theends of the track sections are cut away at 38 to clear the {ish-plates.

The fish-plates serve not only to connect the rails electrically butalso to hold the rails in place in the chairs. The inner end of eachfish-plate abuts against the end face of a chair at 40, and a tongue 42,struck downwards from the bottom of the {ish-plate, abuts against achair in the opposite direction.

The track sections shown in Figures 5 to 8 have each a moulded plasticbase 60 with sleepers 61 and chairs 62 carrying rails 63 and 64. Eachtrack section is formed at its ends with a tongue 65 and a socket 66.The underside of the socket is again formed by a bar 67, but this runsfrom one ange 71 of the base to the opposite ange. In this constructionthe root of the tongue occupies about half the distance between theilanges of the bases but there is a considerably larger semi-circularprojection 69 from it, and there is a corresponding recess 68 in eachtongue. Both corners of the tongue are considerably beve'lled and inaddition there is a slight step 70 in the outer edge of the tongue. Whenthe track sections are lbrought together the tongue yields outwards andbears against the flange 71 which forms the outer wall of the socket,and this ange yields outwards also.

With this joint the movement of the two sections towards one another isnot parallel to the rails and accordingly fish-plates cannot be used.Instead, each rail end above a tongue is provided with a clip 72 whichgrips the underside of a rail and which has a curled-up end which makeselectrical contact with the underside of an adjoining rail. There is aslot 73 in the tongue 65 to receive this clip, and in addition the baseis cut away at 74 -to receive the clip on the adjacent section. The clip72, being conned in the slot 73, serves to hold the rail againstlongitudinal movement in the same way as does the fish-plate in Figuresl to 4. An important advantage of the invention is the elimination ofmetallic connections made possible by forming the joint membersintegrally with the plastic bases of the sections.

I claim:

l. A model railroad track made in unitary sections adapted to be joinedtogether end to end by longitudinally separable connections, each ofsaid sections consisting essentially of individual rails mounted upon amoulded resilient plastic base having complementary tongue and socketjoint members moulded integral therewith and symmetrically arranged ateach end in horizontal alinement, said tongue members each having a partadapted to interengage laterally with a complementary part mouldedintegral with the socket of an alining base when assembled in a track,at least one of said interengaging parts being resilient, whereby eitherend of any section can be joined to another section by forcing eachtongue into the socket opposite it against the resilient yielding of atleast one of said complementary parts until these engage to resistseparation of said sections.

2. A model railroad track according to claim l in which thecomplementary parts comprise a lateral projection from the inner wall ofthe socket and a recess in the inner side of the tongue.

3. A model railroad track according to claim 2 in which each tongue isforked to provide a prong which yields laterally to allow the projectionand recess to engage.

4. A model railroad track according to claim l in which each base hasdownwardly extending flanges along its sides and at each end the basehas a root from which the tongue springs and which occupies about halfthe distance between the llanges, the side walls of the socket beingconstituted by the side of the tongue root and one of the flanges.

5. A model railroad track according to claim l in which the tongues andsockets engage by movement parallel to the rails, and the rails inadjacent sections are electrically connected by fish-plates each fixedto one of ltwo adjoining rails and fitting around the lower part of theother rail to form a sliding connection therewith whenY assembled in atrack.

6. A model railroad track according to claim 5 in which each rail makesa sliding fit in spaced chairs moulded on the base and is held in placelongitudinally by engagement of the lish-plate xed thereto with two ofthe adjacent chairs.

7. A model railroad track made in sections adapted to be joined togetherby end connections between the adjacent bases, each of said sectionsconsisting essentially of rails carried by a plastic base, each of saidbases having integral ytongue and socket joint members arranged side byside at one end and identical tongue and socket joint members at theother end thereof, Ithe inner vertical side of each tongue and the innervertical wall of the socket at the same end of the section beingcontinuations of one another along the centre line of the section, andsaid tongues and sockets having complemetary parts at least one of whichis resilient and which engage sidewise, with z like sockets and tonguescarried by alining sections when assembled in a track, whereby eitherend of any section can be joined to another section by forcing eachtongue into the socket opposite it against the resilient yielding of atleast one of said complementary parts until these engage to resistlongitudinal separation of said sections.

8. A model railroad track according to claim 4 in which each socket isbounded on its underside by a at bar that extends from the ilange whichforms the side wall of the socket to at least as far as the root of thetongue.

References Cited in the ille of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

